China decrees use of foreign news must be approved

You have to wonder how this will be enforced, but China's
State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television has
issued a "Notice on Strengthening Control of Media Personnel's Online
Activities" (关于加强新闻采编人员网络活动管理的通知).
Chinese media organizations have been told to stop posting foreign media news without
government permission: "Without
authorization, no kind of media outlets shall arbitrarily use media
release from overseas media agencies and media websites," is the way Caijing magazine translated it.

To make sure everyone got the message, an article headlined
"SARFT to enhance control over editors' online activities," explaining the new
rules, was apparently published by almost all state-run media at the same time.
You can find an unofficial
translation here posted by the China-watching website A Big Enough Forest. The directive
comes in an effort "to promote the establishment of a healthy news order" the
official explanation reads.

According to the translation, the new directive also
requires that editors "must quickly delete harmful information. News editors
must receive permission from their work units to set up professional Weibo
accounts, and must not post information on Weibo that violates laws,
regulations, or managing rules from their own media organizations. Without
approval, they are not permitted to post any kind of information obtained
through their professional activities."

Other than the day-to-day (and sometimes minute-to-minute)
editorial guidelines flowing out of what used to be called the central propaganda
department, this is the first major censorship directive to be handed down under
the new government of Premier Li Keqiang. If there were any hopes of a liberalized
attitude toward media under the new regime, this part of the official
explanation for the directive, as translated by A Big Enough Forest, should make clear that won't be happening
anytime soon:

The "Notice" requires that news editors must uphold the
policy of encouraging unity and stability, and promoting positive coverage in
the main, while actively using traditional media, news sites, blogs, Weibo
accounts and other methods of information dissemination to broadcast mainstream
information, guide public opinion, and take the initiative to reject
leaks and broadcasts of harmful information; they must not use or report online
information that has not been verified through official channels, and must not
disseminate or repost online rumors or speculative information.

And, courtesy of China
Digital Times, a point of clarification for China watchers enamored of
state agency acronyms: The State Administration of Press Publication, Radio,
Film and Television is a new
ministry formed from the merger of the State Administration of Radio,
Film, and Television (SARFT)
and the General Administration of Press Publication (GAPP). That should make
handing down censorship directives just that much easier.

Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, has reported across the continent for news outlets such as CNN and Asiaweek. He has led numerous CPJ missions, including ones to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.